Deliver Us From Darkness Read online

  On September 5, 1944, many of the larger resistance groups combined to become the Nederlandse Binnenlandse Strijdrachten (NBS), or Netherlands Interior Force, under the control of Prince Bernhard. To satisfy international law, the Prince requested official armbands be worn by the resistance displaying the word “Oranje.” Bernhard’s firm instructions unified the RVV and several other organizations into one group that eventually became known as “The Triangle.” The official military wing of the NBS was activated on September 22. Soon after recruiting started, many young men signed up for the newly formed Stoottroepen infantry regiment and would fight bravely for the Allies and the Koninklijke Landmacht, the Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA).

  * To become more profitable, the innovative scientists at the company developed their own version of Bakelite, called Philite. All the tooling and machinery required to service and manufacture the vast range of products was designed and fabricated on site in Eindhoven. Another item developed by the corporation was a small hand-operated dynamo torch called the “Knijpkat,” which became highly popular with the Germans.

  * Radios, like the national anthem, had been outlawed. Soon afterwards all radios were confiscated but many people kept sets covertly and listened to the weekly broadcasts by Radio Oranje and the Dutch BBC. If caught it was possible for the authorities to upgrade the charge to spying, which carried a mandatory death penalty.

  * Sint Nicolaas Day is far more important than Christmas Day for the younger generation because it is on Sint Nicolaas Day that the Dutch exchange gifts. Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) delivers presents, but according to folklore, his helper Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) would slide down the chimney to take away badly behaved children.

  * Civilian casualties were almost unavoidable due to the close proximity of the factories to the densely populated areas.

  * After the liberation many NSB politicians like Van Stratum, were arrested and sent to Camp Vught (an ex-concentration camp) near s-Hertogenbosch (also known as Den Bosch). Dr Pulles was no exception and was sentenced to four years in detention.

  * Had Van Genugten lived to witness the eventual liberation of Eindhoven it would have indeed been a very special day for him – September 18 was also his birthday.

  3

  “All leave cancelled”

  Prepare for action – September 14, 1944

  Pfc Darvin Lee (MG Ptn) was engaged to Molly, a physiotherapist living in London. The wedding date had been set for September 27, 1944, but when the alert came for Holland all plans for the big day were hurriedly cancelled. “The operation happened quite suddenly,” reflected Sgt Ralph Bennett:

  I had won the battalion’s “best soldier” contest and was on furlough in Slough with a buddy when we found out. About the third morning of my furlough, we went into town and it seemed really quiet. Not a soldier in sight. A policeman came over and asked what we were doing. We had started to produce our papers when he said, “I don’t want to see those as everyone has been recalled – do you realise that you chaps could be locked up for this?” We didn’t know anything about it, so the officer politely escorted us to the railway station and put us on the next train to Reading. From Reading we had no alternative than to hitch-hike the rest of the way back to Ramsbury. Approaching camp we could see the heavily loaded trucks about to depart. We had no time to change and were still in our class “A” uniforms as we clambered aboard.

  Luckily for Ralph his friends had thoughtfully packed his barracks bag (“B” bag) and brought along his Thompson submachine gun (TSMG) and a more suitable change of clothing. “I happened to get into the same vehicle as Lt ‘Skunk’ Walker, who threatened me with a court martial for being late. I don’t think that Walker actually parachuted with us but was either flown in by glider or transported by ship along with the kitchens and other less mobile equipment. The Executive Officer, Roy Kessler, took command of the company during the parachute phase until Walker was able to join us later with the rear echelon.”

  Battle plans

  On the late morning of September 14, Col Sink alerted his battalion commanders during an emergency staff meeting at Littlecote House. “We received packets from ‘SHAEF’ through the British containing a huge amount of material with a rush designation and we knew that this was for real,” recalls Ed Shames, who at the time was still working at Regiment with Maj Hester and the S-3 department. “The initial preparations seemed to me to be more or less a joint regimental effort as we worked through the battle plans in the billiard room. When it was time to leave, I was ordered to jump with 2nd Bn as an observer, with no real notion of what I was doing, until I could be assigned to my new platoon.”

  Fifteen hundred men from 1st and 2nd Bn, along with RHQ, departed later that same afternoon to their designated marshaling areas at Membury. Maj Horton returned to his headquarters in Ramsbury and quietly asked Bob Harwick to gather the battalion staff and the company commanders. A few minutes later, clutching notebooks, the officers strolled casually into battalion HQ with “this must be another show-down inspection” expressions on their faces.

  The atmosphere changed when Horton revealed in his heavy Southern drawl, “Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that the battalion has been alerted for an important mission, somewhere in the Netherlands, and must be prepared to clear this camp by first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “Everyone in the room was somewhat surprised by the ‘good’ news and all wondered exactly where we would be going,” recalled Derwood Cann (Bn S-2).The battalion was being sent to Chilbolton Airdrome (USAAF Station 404) in Hampshire. Situated four miles southeast of Andover, the airfield straddled an elevated section of the Test Valley, between the villages of Chilbolton and Leckford.

  Maj Horton continued slowly and deliberately and explained that the mission was codenamed Market Garden. Market was the airborne phase and Garden would be a ground assault led by the British XXX Corps and Second Army. Derwood Cann recalled the briefing and remembered Horton asking 1st Lt Alex Bobuck (Bn S-1) to supply a roster of every man in the battalion available for the jump. Those soldiers not on jump status were to be sent to a temporary holding area at Littlecote House.

  Horton turned his attention to operations officer Capt John Kiley (S-3), requesting that he contact the supply officer Lt King and plan for the battalion to be packed and loaded in trucks no later than 0745hrs the following morning. As Kiley was leaving, Horton asked him for a status report on the crew-served weapons. Cann’s section was then asked to move immediately to Chilbolton and establish a briefing room large enough to accommodate at least one platoon. Before departing Cann visited Littlecote for a brief meeting with the Regimental S-2, Capt Bill Leach, in order to collect all the necessary maps, photos, and overlays.

  Facing the four company commanders, Oliver Horton continued issuing his orders. “gentlemen, I want all assigned personnel sealed within the camp as quickly as possible. All furloughs and passes are now cancelled, and no one will be leaving this area without special permission. Have your troops pack all their personal property in their ‘B’ [barracks] bags and clear the huts of equipment. Lt King will contact you later to issue instructions concerning supplies and storage. The men will take nothing except combat clothing, overcoats, and weapons. You will not disclose any of this information, as I’ll be briefing the battalion before we leave for the marshaling area.” Despite Maj Horton’s closing words, the battalion soon realized something important was happening when the first vehicles arrived and began hurtling chaotically around Ramsbury ferrying vital supplies.

  Before long, the advance party was ready to depart for Chilbolton. Derwood Cann, Bill Galbraith (S-3), and members of the intelligence section traveled together in two jeeps, towing trailers loaded down with equipment. Cann was deeply concerned about the lack of time his department had to prepare: “Amongst the equipment we carried were several sizable ceiling lamps and reflectors for illuminating maps and overlays. A number of large rectangular plywood boards for mounting documents, plus an aerial photo
interpretation kit, several rolls of acetate, technical drawing tools, a heavy black cloth to cover anything that might be deemed sensitive, and a large quantity of fine white sand for the sand tables.”

  Operations Linnet and Comet

  In the Netherlands, September 5, 1944, became known as Dolle Dinsdag (Mad Tuesday), when German troops withdrew across the southern borders desperately trying to escape the Allied advance. The Dutch resistance used this confused state to their advantage and launched several attacks. In one act of sabotage the railway tracks outside Eindhoven’s central station were damaged, delaying all train movement for several days. In the ensuing panic the Constant Rebecque Barracks, northwest of Eindhoven, were abandoned and subsequently looted. The barracks were close to the Wielewaal Estate, where Frits Philips had his magnificent mansion, which remained completely untouched by the looters. Rocket-firing Typhoon ground-attack aircraft from the RAF mercilessly strafed German convoys, forcing men and vehicles to find cover under roadside trees. As a future preventative measure many local people took advantage of the chaos and cut back foliage along all potential routes of enemy advance or withdrawal. Noud Stultiens remembers one alarming incident, when a retreating German unit set up a temporary campsite in parkland opposite his house in Eindhoven: “Three drunken soldiers forced their way into our home angrily demanding coffee. Our Dutch Shepherd dog went mad and attacked one of the men, who took out a stick grenade and began to wave it about! One of his colleagues took the grenade away just as my mother entered the room carrying several large cups of coffee (made from tulip bulbs). My mother was blissfully unaware of the struggle that had just taken place and as soon as the Germans sobered up they headed back to their encampment.” The Dutch began to think that liberation might not be far away but their hopes were soon dashed when the German High Command regrouped its disorganized forces into a series of Kampfgruppen or fighting groups, which numbered around 125,000 men.

  S2 Intelligence Officer, 1st Lt Derwood Cann from Monroe, Louisiana. Derwood was a direct descendant of French national hero General Louis C. A. DeSaix de Veygoux, who was one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s most trusted and favourite officers. (Eugene and Vada Montgomery)

  3rd Bn, Machine Gun Platoon commander, 1st Lt Bill Wedeking. (Bill Wedeking)

  1st Lt Fred “Andy” Anderson (right) and his younger brother Bunk, pictured in 1943 at Quonset Point Naval Air Station, Rhode Island, shortly before Andy was sent to the UK. (The Anderson family)

  Just after Normandy Dr Mills held a welcome home party in the garden of Kennet House for 3rd Bn doctor’s Stanley Morgan and Barney Ryan. Morgan is pictured here enjoying the sunshine. (Peter Mills)

  3rd Bn, Executive Officer Capt Robert Harwick, pictured at camp Ramsbury, 1944. (Mark Bando)

  G Co officers: (L to R) 1st Lt Ed Harrell (Executive Officer), 1st Lt Joe Doughty (Commander), and 1st Lt Linton Barling (3 Ptn) on leave in London after Normandy. (Joe Doughty via Mark Bando)

  2nd Lt Rudolph Bolte (H Co 1 Ptn) pictured in January 1943 at Davenport, Iowa with wife Erma and two children Karen Lee, aged five and Suzanne aged 18 months. (Merrick and Teri O’Connell)

  S/Sgt Harry Clawson (H Co 3rd Ptn), photographed with his wife Melba and their three children (L to R), Ronald, Sharon, and Rodney, pictured in Safford, Arizona 1943. (Aaron Walser)

  60mm Mortar Sergeant Ralph Bennett from Michigan, H Company 3rd Ptn. (Ralph Bennett)

  Pvt James Melhus, Machine Gun Platoon, pictured in 1944. (Jim Melhus)

  Machine gunner Cpl Audrey Lewallen from Casper Wyoming. A Native American, Lewallen could be a little unpredictable at times and, according to Jim Melhus, one of his “favorite” pursuits in Holland was to taunt the junior ranks with a machete. (Bob Webb Jnr)

  LtCol Robert Wolverton’s successor, Maj Oliver Horton. (Currahee Scrapbook)

  1st Sgt Fred Bahlau (HQ Co) sitting on the bridge over the river Kennet near the old water mill at Ramsbury during August 1944. (Fred Bahlau)

  Supply Sergeant Bob Webb (HQ Co) strutting his stuff while on leave in Beaumont, Texas, in February 1943. (Bob Webb Jnr)

  Sgt Garland “Tex” Collier from Coleman, Texas (still officially listed as missing in action). (Judy Gamble)

  August 10, 1944. (L to R) Gen Eisenhower, LtGen Maxwell Taylor, and LtGen Lewis Brereton, photographed during a parade on Hungerford Common to announce the formation of the First Allied Airborne Army. (Currahee Scrapbook)

  Mario “Hank” DiCarlo (H Co 1 Ptn), 1943. (Hank DiCarlo)

  Members of H Co 2 Ptn pictured at Camp Mackall in 1943. (L to R) Pfc Ken Johnson, Pfc Alex Spurr, Pfc Charles Stenbom, Pfc Lloyd McGee, Pfc Gil Hunteman, and Pfc Frank Malik (front kneeling). Stenbom lost both legs during the shelling at Opheusden on October 5, 1944. (Ken Johnson)

  Dirk van Tintelen’s heavy machine-gun crew practising drills on Heumensoord ranges before the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940. (Dirk van Tintelen via Geurt van Rinsum)

  The Grebbe Line 1940. Dirk van Tintelen is pictured here standing on the right (next to a boy) taking a break with his colleagues while digging defensive positions at Maarsbergen. (Dirk van Tintelen via Geurt van Rinsum)

  The enlistment photograph of Dutch Army reservist Dirk van Tintelen, taken in 1938, at Kraijenhof Barracks, Nijmegen. (Dirk van Tintelen via Geurt van Rinsum)

  Dr Hub Pulles (front right without hat) after being sworn in as mayor at the Van Abbe Museum of Art in Eindhoven on February 21, 1942. Pulles became mayor of Eindhoven after all 19 city councillors were replaced by a puppet assembly of National Socialists. (Tom Peeters)

  Downtown Boschdijk looking south towards Eindhoven before the German invasion in 1940. (Jenny van Hout)

  The Philips factories in Eindhoven were bombed by the RAF on December 6, 1942. (Tom Peeters)

  View looking west towards the Philips radio works at Strijp from the German antiaircraft gun site on Marconilaan. The clock tower is out of shot to the right of the picture. (Tom Timmermans)

  For Market Garden, Capt John Kiley (left) was the battalion Operations Officer (S3) and 1st Lt Jim “Skunk” Walker was the commander of H Co. Kiley was killed by a sniper at Vlokhoven on September 18, 1944. (Bill Galbraith via John Klein)

  Chilbolton – the military airfield’s original water tower is still in existence along Martins Lane.

  German horse-drawn troops fleeing Eindhoven during Dolle Dinsdag (Mad Tuesday) on September 5, 1944. (Currahee Scrapbook)

  A section of the original 1:5,000 photolithographed map issued to 1st Lt Bill Wedeking (MG Platoon) detailing the layout of the Philips radio works complex at Strijp on the northwest outskirts of Eindhoven. (Bill Wedeking)

  Aircraft from the 81st Troop Carrier Squadron, dropping paratroopers from 2/506 onto DZ B at Son. (Tom Peeters)

  Bomb damage to the railway station in Eindhoven. In the background can be seen the Philips Lichtoren, or Light Tower, located at the lamp and valve factory at Strijp. (Tom Peeters)

  Seen here at USAF Welford in Berkshire, LtGen Taylor (CO 101st Airborne Division) neatly displays modifications to the standard American T5 parachute. The riggers made several versions using the British Quick Release Harness and parts from the X-Type parachute webbing. (Signal Corps)

  View from LtGen Brereton’s observation plane across DZ B and LZ W. (Signal Corps via Tom Peeters)

  September 17, 1944. People gathering in Stratum to watch the parachute drop. Today in the square opposite stands one of Eindhoven’s few remaining “liberation trees” planted in 1946 to commemorate the Allied invasion. (Currahee Scrapbook)

  View looking east towards Son, across drop zone C where paratroopers from the 502nd PIR descended near Brouwerskamp. The plume of smoke in the distance is a C-47 from the 79th Troop Carrier Squadron, flown by 1st Lt Robert Stoddart which crashed on DZ B. (Heemkundekring Son en Breugel)

  The air armada turning over Geel in Belgium shortly before lining up for the drop zones. (Chris van Kerckhoven via Ronald Ooms)

  Later waves of tow planes and gliders seen p
assing over Sint Petrus Church on Kloosterdreef most probably on D+1. (P. Hendrikx)

  One of the Waco gliders that collided over LZ W at Sonniuswijk. (L to R) S/Sgt Joe Crawford (Regimental Headquarters Company, RHQ), Chaplain Tilden McGee, Capt Clovis Tollett (RHQ), and far right wearing goggles, 1st Lt Peter Baronski (RHQ) – note the faces of the men trapped inside wreckage. (Signal Corps via Tom Peeters)

  The 506th Regimental Aid Station preparing to move off the drop zone. Note the smoke from a burning aircraft on right. (Signal Corps via Tom Peeters)

  Soldiers from 506th RHQ giving chewing gum to local children on the main track to Sonniuswijk running west across the drop zone. (L to R) Rini Hilgedenaars, Johan and Wim van Nostrum, and their eight-year-old sister Anneke. (Don van den Bogert)

  Aerial view of the TB Hospital at Son taken in 1936. The Aloysius Boys School is seen here to the left of the hospital and the Girls School (Divisional Command Post) is bottom right. (Heemkundekring Son en Breugel)

  The swing bridge at Son in 1936, photographed from the southern bank of the Wilhelmina Canal. When opened the bridge rotated electronically on a central mechanism and was protected on both sides by a wooden crash barrier seen here in the foreground. (Heemkundekring Son en Breugel)